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The National Hockey League has a group of teams — Boston, Detroit, Montreal, the New York Rangers, Toronto and Chicago — called the Original Six, as they were the six teams that composed the NHL for the 25 years from the 1942-43 season to the 1967 league expansion.

Plum graduate Marissa Matassa also can be considered an “original-six” member, as she was one of the six bowlers who made up the roster for the St. Francis (PA) women's bowling team for its first season in 2010-11.

Two years later, Matassa still is a key member of the Red Flash, and now the squad is nationally ranked.

St. Francis currently is 11th on the 20-team National Tenpin Coaches Association rankings.

The poll last was released Dec. 16, and most collegiate bowling teams are wrapping up a nearly- month-and-a-half break from competition.

The Red Flash returns to action Jan. 25 to 27 at the KU Invitational in Reading, and the next NTCA national rankings are set to be released next month.

Right before its break started, St. Francis won the Red Flash Invitational for the first time in the three years of the event.

St. Francis beat Ursuline (Ohio) in the finals, and Matassa had a 20.38 Baker-frame average in the four-game championship sweep of the Arrows.

She helped the Red Flash average a 200.25 score over the four games.

Matassa tallied a season Baker-frame average of 17.89 and a traditional-game average of 181.68 as a sophomore in 2011-12.

She converted 87.7 percent of single-pin spares and 70 percent of multiple-pin spares.

Matassa was named to the PA State Championship all-tournament team, and she finished in the top 13 percent at the 2012 USBC Junior Gold Championships (74th out of 569 bowlers) in Indianapolis in July.

Michael Love is a staff writer with Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-388-5825 or at mlove@tribweb.com

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